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Who is Lun Chang Chen? Man, 49, slashes 4 young girls with meat cleaver in Brooklyn before being shot by cops
The suspect, 49-year-old Lun Chang Chen, was taken to the hospital and is in critical condition, police said.
A man slashed four young girls with a meat cleaver in Brooklyn on Sunday morning, April 6, before he was shot by police. The suspect, 49-year-old Lun Chang Chen, was taken to the hospital and is in critical condition, police said.
Police rushed to a home on 84th Street around 10:15 am after an injured 11-year-old girl, one of the victims, called 911 after locking herself in a room. She told the dispatcher her uncle, Chen, had stabbed her and her siblings.
“At that point [the cops] heard screams coming from behind the door to their left and immediately began forcing their way into the apartment, kicking down the door,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters at a briefing at the scene, as reported by the New York Post.
“Once they entered, they encountered a man standing near the entrance holding a large meat cleaver covered with blood, and they could see blood on the floor of the home,” Tisch continued. “The officers ordered the man to drop the weapon several times. He refused and advanced towards them.”
“Two officers discharged their firearms, firing seven total rounds between them, striking the subject, ending the threat,” she added.
Four girls, aged 16, 13, 11, and 8, suffered “serious slash and stab wounds” and were rushed to Maimonides Medical Center, Tisch said. They are expected to survive. “This could have ended very differently,” Tisch added.
Who is Lun Chang Chen?
Not much is known about Chen except that he is believed to have lived in the home where the attack took place. The motive for the assault is under investigation.
“I was watching through the window and the girl covered in blood came out,” said a neighbour, Maria. “And then there was another girl. The two girls were just covered in blood.”
“I was shaking. I’m still shaking now,” she added. “I don’t usually see them. They just moved here. I lived here seven years and there are a lot of new people moving here.”
Neighbour Humbert Huerta said, “They brought out a guy on a stretcher, all bloody without a shirt. I don’t know who it was, but they shot him twice. They took him out and put him in the ambulance. Probably 40 years old.”
Tisch revealed that a fifth child, a boy, was in the apartment and rushed to seek help when Chen attacked the girls. “Right now we know there were five children, four hurt,” Tisch said. “This might be the father of some of them or the uncle. And, again, we’re going to work through that. And we believe the mother was out of the house.”
State Assemblyman Lester Chang, who represents the Brooklyn neighborhood, revealed one the victims may have been a babysitter.
